One of New Zealand’s largest bottling companies is working with Facteon to implement a new manufacturing system to manage the maintenance of more than 700 machines across multiple plants.

Business Challenges

The bottling company runs three sites across New Zealand and is working to standardise its approach to maintenance. Prior to Facteon’s involvement, sites were working independently and using other systems. The lack of a central source of information made it difficult to effectively and consistently complete maintenance tasks. With multiple sites in operation, the sharing of information across the business is key to ensuring visibility of operations.

Implementing Facteon’s maintenance platform allowed the manufacturer to drive operational efficiencies across its nationwide plants. The manufacturer also needed complete visibility of spare parts across the three sites, with the aim to effectively monitor spare part supplies and their consumption across all sites.

Facteon’s Solution

The Facteon Industrial IoT team worked closely with the manufacturer’s team to pilot our specialised equipment maintenance solution at the company’s Auckland plant. This included scoping both the machinery and the business processes underpinning the facility’s maintenance and operations. Facteon then loaded the manufacturer’s equipment structure, line by line and machine by machine into the software solution.

Outcomes to Date

Following this implementation, the manufacturer will have complete visibility over maintenance performed and the spare parts consumed across its three manufacturing sites. As Facteon’s software is accessible to an unlimited number of users, all staff with permission can access production information via an internet-connected device. The manufacturer can also measure and manage productivity of maintenance operations. Time spent compiling and organising maintenance reports has been significantly reduced. 

Looking Ahead

Facteon is set to implement an industrial edge computer into the plant to collect data directly from PLCs and sensors connected to machinery. This will monitor and report on efficiency, power, water and trade waste consumption in real-time.

An edge computer will activate the connected functionalities of the maintenance module. This includes the automatic generation of maintenance tasks based on machine hours and products produced per production line.

Future Outcomes

Facteon and the bottling customer are now looking to commence Stage II. Facteon will provide a range of devices for the measuring of resource consumption. This will integrate with other business operations to increase the granularity of data and enable the monitoring of resource consumption per production shift.

Furthermore, the inclusion of an alerting system will notify managers of concerning resource consumption and efficiency trends in real-time allowing them to act before production and product quality is adversely impacted.